VX for sale, though has problems...take the chance?

[tom4bren]

...I'm single.

I'm sure there's a reason for that!!!!

[circmand]

I'm sure there's a reason for that!!!!

Thus far I have been unable to find a woman worthy of me. Now dont get me wrong I am not egotistical the woman themselves tell me that. As a matter of fact If I had a dollar for every woman who told me it wasnt me it was them I would be rich. I do not expect anyone else to be perfect (like me) I have learned long ago I am one of a kind.

[vt_maverick]

Thus far I have been unable to find a woman worthy of me. Now dont get me wrong I am not egotistical the woman themselves tell me that. As a matter of fact If I had a dollar for every woman who told me it wasnt me it was them I would be rich. I do not expect anyone else to be perfect (like me) I have learned long ago I am one of a kind.

This should appear beside the word "sarcasm" in Webster's Dictionary.

Nice post circ.

[Gussie2000]

Circman,what bad advise are you talking about ?
1rst of all i never told sunfirekat to ignore what could be the brake light issue,i just say that the ABS is a very common issue on our VX's,that many members drives without the ABS or got rid of it.
isn't that a fact ?

Again,the brake light on the dash COULD be the hand brake sensor,what i meant by saying so is to provide her with a clue of what COULD BE the issue,more likely the wire tha engages the hand brake may need to be replaced;If you read her post carefully sunfirekat never mention that she noticed any issues with the brake system while test driving the VX more then the ABS & the brake light on

Anyways,is not my intetion to have an confrontation about anything with anyone.

[VX KAT]

Thus far I have been unable to find a woman worthy of me. Now dont get me wrong I am not egotistical the woman themselves tell me that. As a matter of fact If I had a dollar for every woman who told me it wasnt me it was them I would be rich. I do not expect anyone else to be perfect (like me) I have learned long ago I am one of a kind.

[MeowMix]

Lol! You all crack me up...sorry guys, but as of just recently I'm taken. He may live 110mi away, but he's definitely worth the drive...I just wish that worthless car of mine had cruise control.

Maverick - I'm not worried about being pressured into an FJ...ultimately, it's my decision, and my parents have acknowledged that. Not that they like it though, they'd rather run my life entirely...even at the age of 26, lol. There's a reason I initially moved out. As far as Osteomata's VX, if it's from NY then there's no way I'd want it...my boyfriend told me winter road horror stories from his days living in Syracuse for grad school. Apparently, they throw pellets of pure salt down on the roads, and cars that aren't frequently washed end up with a coating of salt on their skirts and underbody that turns white when it dries. Not cool.

Tom - thanks for the info on the 4WD, and back to black is probably what I would use as well...I already use it on the black exterior plastics on my Sunfire. I don't mind tediously applying and reapplying dressings to my plastics, in fact I love applying them; I like the smell of most dressings, lol. Also, has anyone ever had their cladding rhino lined? Rhino is so much softer and squishier than Line-x, I wonder which would be better. Though rhino is a thicker application, so that could present problems.

Mdwyer - my Sunfire is the most worthless thing I've ever driven in the snow, aside from the '87 El Camino I used to own...there's no way it could be better than an SUV. Though true, at least it's a lot more difficult to roll. There's a reason that 75% of Sunfires in this city disappear at the end of October and come back in about April, lol. Also, The Davenport has since been completely restored. They sank millions into restoration, and it's now absolutely gorgeous; the only 5 star hotel in the area. Rather out of place in this trashy, meth ridden city...though I like having a nice, high class place I can go to have a martini now and again.

Riff Raff - Even if I did want Osteomata's proton out of FL, There's no way I could convince my dad to buy an east coast vehicle. I know that for sure...he's pretty anal about his cars. Kinda like me, but I'm way worse than he is. Unless we're talking about the coupe...that '31 Model A is his baby. I'm also aware of the visibility issues, which is one of the main points in all the VX reviews I've read over time. Thanks for the info on that escrow site though, I didn't know it existed. And as far as mailing anything goes -- why bother? Might as well drive over. Tacoma is a hop skip and a jump from Spokane...in fact, I was just over your way in Snohomish over winter break, lol.

Oh and Kat, those links are awesome! You rock! I had been going to individual cities on CL for searches, lol. And yes, that Spokane VX on CL is the one. Doesn't look too bad from the pictures, does it? I laughed when I reread the ad, and read the word "clean". How is a shriveled, probably six month old french fry on the floor clean?! And that's not the half of it. Poor VX...

So I've decided not to pursue that proton in town, I'll just continue to watch and see if she lowers her price on it...and if I can eventually get it for around $5k, I'd possibly reconsider. I know it may take many more months to find my VX, though I'm patient...no need to rush, I'll be stuck exactly where I am, in my parents basement, in school for probably another three years or so, lol. So if anybody finds a nice, low mileage, non-east coast '01 proton send a link my way!

Also...I need to figure this multiple quote thing out.

-MeowMix

[circmand]

Circman,what bad advise are you talking about ?
1rst of all i never told sunfirekat to ignore what could be the brake light issue,i just say that the ABS is a very common issue on our VX's,that many members drives without the ABS or got rid of it.
isn't that a fact ?

Again,the brake light on the dash COULD be the hand brake sensor,what i meant by saying so is to provide her with a clue of what COULD BE the issue,more likely the wire tha engages the hand brake may need to be replaced;If you read her post carefully sunfirekat never mention that she noticed any issues with the brake system while test driving the VX more then the ABS & the brake light on

Anyways,is not my intetion to have an confrontation about anything with anyone.

I may have misunderstood when you wrote not too take it seriously. I think the typo or short hand threw me.

[vt_maverick]

Maverick...my boyfriend told me winter road horror stories from his days living in Syracuse for grad school. Apparently, they throw pellets of pure salt down on the roads, and cars that aren't frequently washed end up with a coating of salt on their skirts and underbody that turns white when it dries. Not cool.

Your boyfriend is absolutely correct, I just washed the underside of my VX last Saturday to get all the salt off. The winter salt + the sand/salt water mist from driving on the beach is the primary reason why I bought a skid plate system; I figure it keeps 90+% of that stuff off the bottom of the engine, tranny, etc. But keep in mind that the salt problem isn't restricted to the East coast. When we got home from two weeks in Wisconsin over the holidays our Axiom was covered in salt residue. Thankfully they get enough snow up there to have a better understanding of how much salt is actually needed, but even still 2 weeks in WI = a few days in East coast snow. I bought a VX that was owned in PA/VA, but it only had 24K on the clock and I was able to thoroughly inspect the underside in person before I bought it. Given the distance and therefore the difficulty in inspecting it's probably a good idea to stick with something in the deep south (LA, AL, MS) or southwest (TX, AZ, NM, CA).

Also...I need to figure this multiple quote thing out.

See the little button to the right of the Quote button? (It looks like "+.) Click that button beside each post you want to quote and it will turn red to indicate that you're quoting that post. When you reach the last post you want to quote, click the Quote button instead and you'll quote everything at one time. Then it's just a matter of typing your posts between all the quotes.

Unfortunately that doesn't work if you're trying to quote posts across multiple pages. But there are ways around that if you try.

[VX KAT]

Now for something completely insane MeowMix....
Carfax showed my VX spent it's entire "registered" life in Virginia and DC...I bought it out of VA with 64k, all stock. I didn't have it inspected (insanely stupid!), just pics from used car lot. Shipped it to AZ & took it to mechanic....no rust.....go figger (insanely LUCKY!)

Since VXs clearly move around the country quite a bit, here's some tips on assessing rust as you go forward with your search.
A good tell-tale sign of a possible significant rust issue on VXs: the front bumper support bar, behind the cladding. MANY owners have said it just rusted away to dust and fell off.

Another common area of rust: The license plate light unit on the rear, directly above plate. Several have had to redo it cuz it just rusted away. Deermagnet did a great overhaul/redo if it. After I read his I checked mine, and it DOES have quite a bit of rust.....so that appears to be an area especially vulnerable to rust.

Another comment on rust is the various bolts and screw heads in the engine bay. We often comment on these in pics. Don't think it's that definitive as a sign of a rusty truck, but certainly worth looking at on any one you check out. I have some lightly rusty ones right on top of the radiator/grill area, but we've seen some with severely rusted bolts.

I grew up in Penn, so I know salt and I know rust.....but the VX fever had blinded me and I hadn't yet read ALL the details on this site. Just sayin' you're right to be very cautious about East Coast cars, but, apparently, not all suffer that fate. Either that or mine was registered in VA but "lived" somewhere else.

On my recent "See America" driving tour, I got coated with some gray stuff in Colorado...I mean coated..... luckily RallyDude and MSHardeman knew exactly what it was and advised me to get it off! They spray the roads ahead of time with this variant of a salt product and you get it all over the undercarriage and everywhere else. too.

[vt_maverick]

To add on to what Sue posted... another common area for rust is the muffler, although it's pretty common amongst all VX's, regardless of location. The muffler was the one area on mine that showed significant rust.

[mdwyer]

On my recent "See America" driving tour, I got coated with some gray stuff in Colorado...I mean coated..... luckily RallyDude and MSHardeman knew exactly what it was and advised me to get it off! They spray the roads ahead of time with this variant of a salt product and you get it all over the undercarriage and everywhere else. too.

Mag Chloride. The stuff makes a giant mess. The article I linked says it is less corrosive to steel, but then later down says it is corrosive to aluminum and steel. Still, you rarely see vehicles rusted through around here. That might have more to do with the dry climate than the road salt, but I don't know.

BTW, for what it is worth, when I bought my VX the ABS light wasn't on, but it turned on while I was driving it off the lot. If I had known then what I now know, I would have turned it right around and gotten $3k dropped off the price. Still, for what it is worth, mine has been 'broken' ever since, and I haven't really missed it all that much.

An ABS light impacts the price, in my humble opinion, but does not impact the overall quality of the VX. Having the brake light on is a bit more troubling. It COULD just be a problem with the handbrake, but it could also mean that half the brake system is dead. From experience, I can tell you that you don't want to drive around with half your brakes.

[MeowMix]

See the little button to the right of the Quote button? (It looks like "+.) Click that button beside each post you want to quote and it will turn red to indicate that you're quoting that post. When you reach the last post you want to quote, click the Quote button instead and you'll quote everything at one time. Then it's just a matter of typing your posts between all the quotes.

I see it now...I wasn't logged in before, and so I never saw the + button. Got it now. Thanks

Now for something completely insane MeowMix....
Carfax showed my VX spent it's entire "registered" life in Virginia and DC...I bought it out of VA with 64k, all stock. I didn't have it inspected (insanely stupid!), just pics from used car lot. Shipped it to AZ & took it to mechanic....no rust.....go figger (insanely LUCKY!)

...but the VX fever had blinded me and I hadn't yet read ALL the details on this site.

Lol...VX fever eh? Is that medical terminology? And yes...that IS extremely lucky; I'm glad things worked out in your favor. I myself have terrible luck, so I've learned to be fairly cautious of literally everything...best for me to not chance vehicles from the east. I'm patient, I can wait and diligently watch for my perfect proton.

BTW, for what it is worth, when I bought my VX the ABS light wasn't on, but it turned on while I was driving it off the lot. If I had known then what I now know, I would have turned it right around and gotten $3k dropped off the price. Still, for what it is worth, mine has been 'broken' ever since, and I haven't really missed it all that much.

An ABS light impacts the price, in my humble opinion, but does not impact the overall quality of the VX. Having the brake light on is a bit more troubling. It COULD just be a problem with the handbrake, but it could also mean that half the brake system is dead. From experience, I can tell you that you don't want to drive around with half your brakes.

You most certainly should have taken it straight back and at least had them fix it, or significantly lower the price as you said. I'm sorry to hear that that happened, though would you have still bought it had the ABS light been on prior to leaving the car lot? I did test drive that VX...I took it around the neighborhood a bit, and it didn't feel like there was something seriously wrong with the braking system. On the other hand I'm an installer, not a mechanic...I should probably leave that judgment up to a professional. The story about half a braking system sounds exciting...I hope it ended well for you, lol.

Thanks everyone for the info on common areas for rust problems...I'll have to add those to the arsenal of questions I've saved on a word doc for future use in finding my perfect VX.

[vt_maverick]

Maybe this one is worth a look MeowMix? It's in salt-free Texas:

http://lubbock.craigslist.org/cto/2171306188.html

[atilla_the_fun]

the texas panhandle actually gets the most snow in texas..

[circmand]

[QUOTE=mdwyer;217587]Mag Chloride.
BTW, for what it is worth, when I bought my VX the ABS light wasn't on, but it turned on while I was driving it off the lot. If I had known then what I now know, I would have turned it right around and gotten $3k dropped off the price. Still, for what it is worth, mine has been 'broken' ever since, and I haven't really missed it all that much.

QUOTE]

They had service clear the codes and it came on again as they never fixed anything